The Cringe Factor
26 Jul, 2009 in Democrat, Healthcare, Issues, Left, Politics, Republican, Right, The MediaHave you ever watched a show on TV or overheard a nearby conversation in which people who are obviously not experts on the topic they are discussing start debating incorrect “facts” back and forth to the point where you just have to cringe at how utterly, entirely wrong they are? I’ve been having that happen a lot recently. Mostly, unfortunately, about politics – specifically about President Obama’s Healthcare plan.
I’m usually fine to sit there and let people be wrong, but both sides of the media, along with the Republicans, have done a really good job at obfuscating one very important fact: The Obama Administration isn’t talking about changing actual healthcare – they’re talking about changing health insurance and coverage so that all Americans can have access to healthcare. A lot – a whole lot in my experience – of people don’t understand this. They think that the President is trying to take us into a clinical healthcare system and that’s just not the case. This is about insurance and coverage, not directly the actual care itself.
Yes, there are parts of what the Administration is trying to push that would change some of the actual healthcare system itself, but that’s on the administrative end. At the very core of what they’re doing is to help enable those without any health insurance at all be able to have some limited coverage so that when they need basic services they don’t have to go to a local hospital and waste taxpayer money on services that are far cheaper at a regular doctors office.
I’m not going to discuss whether what the administration is doing is right or wrong or even where I stand on the whole deal. I just wish that the media would do a better job of educating people about what’s really going on instead of really polarizing the story and leaving out important details. It just makes me cringe.
There’s a reason that Jon Stewart won “most trusted newscaster” in that Time magazine poll… With how much of a joke the news is, at least you can trust the guy who admits he’s really just a comedian.
I tend to agree with Brian. Even the worldview of a reporter who is trying to remain unbiased is still necessarily going to come through but it’s as if the news outlets are not even making a cursory attempt at impartiality anymore. There is a reason that Walter Cronkite was referred to as “The Big Objective” (ok I just totally made that up) but my point is when news outlets assume the role of propagandists, the dissemination of information (shit, I’m turning into Al Sharpton) necessarily suffers.
“I just wish that the media would do a better job of educating people about what’s really going on instead of really polarizing the story and leaving out important details.”
I absolutely agree, although it’s politics which standardizes to Democrat and Republican. Each wouldn’t dare to represent the opposing side, just due to the fact that it could potentioly hurt their own party. Sadly that’s why I’m forced to watch Fox every evening, obviously there left wing scum, so as CNN to right wing scum. At least Fox will give democrats credit where credit is due at times.